Tours in Chiang Rai

Tep picked us up as stated in his correspondence through Whats App. He picked us up in his personal truck. We went to a market and walked around and he bought a few food items but we did not eat them there. He did not explain anything about the market. We had to ask a lot of questions to get any information out of him. In my opinion he was not very knowledgable about the foods. Next he took us to a local restaurant. He ordered all of the food for us since the menu was only written in Thai. Again I had to ask questions about what he ordered. He did not explain much about the food or the culture or the restaurant. Next he took us to a larger city restaurant market. He ordered all of the food. A woman showed up at our table but we were never introduced. I ended up introducing myself and asked her name. She joined us in eating the food and had a beer. Tep told us she was there to save us a table. I just found it a bit odd!! Very little conversation amongst Tep and the rest of us. My husband and I were both very disappointed in this food tour. There was nothing extraordinary or special about the foods we ate other than that they were kind of weird and not something typical we would eat in the US. I was hoping for more educational information and higher quality foods/restaurant We probably could have done pretty much this same tour on our own. The price point for this tour was way more than it should have been.

The tour was exactly what we wanted and Tepthai was the perfect guide for us. The temples and The Baan Dam Museum are magnificent on any day, but the service provided by Tepthai really added to our experience. He arrived on time, provided very comfortable transportation, provided juice and water and even took us to a 'hidden' local restaurant for lunch. This tour and Tepthai are highly recommended.

Mr Thep took us all the places we wanted to see as well as a few places he knew of that we did not …which we were happy happy to experience… He looked out for us , made sure we had water , drove safely etc He gave us additional information about the sites , patiently answered our questions and never rushed us..

We spent 5 hours exploring temples of Chiang Rai with Thep. It was better than we had even hoped. He let us go at our speed and engaged in such a great way. He gave us time to take in what we were seeing, shared helpful information, took great photos of the 2 of us, made the whole day so smooth. His truck was a great way to get around and he took us to a hidden gem of the best vegan restaurant with Thai food!! Delicious!! We really appreciated the time we spent with him. He also made sure we stayed hydrated! Thep has 25+ years of experience in giving tours, most of it focused on Chiang Rai and is a member of Lahu and Akha hill tribes. (Side note) Thep also does home stays in his village about 15km outside Chiang Rai if you want that experience. Had we known about that before we probably would have done it. You want to book with him! If we had more time we would book with him again. If we return we definitely will!